The Promise of Christmas
by Cassandra Mulder
Summary: Mainly Christmas fluff. The Christmas present S/V shippers didn't get this year.


Title: The Promise of Christmas  
  
Author: Cassandra Mulder  
  
Email: cassandra_mulder@yahoo.com  
  
Written: December 16 - December 21, 2002  
  
Site: Bound http://www.geocities.com/cassandra_mulder ; Allies http://www.geocities.com/sydneyvaughn  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Spoilers: Most of season 2, nothing really specific.  
  
Summary: Mainly Christmas fluff. The Christmas present S/V shippers didn't get this year.  
  
Distribution: Cover Me, Allies Fanfiction Archive, my site Allies, Emma, anyone else please ask.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own "Alias" or any of the characters within. Unfortunately, not even Vaughn. *sigh* They all belong to J.J. Abrams, Bad Robot Productions, and ABC. No infringement is intended, I'm just showing my love for the best, most fun spy thriller on   
TV.  
  
Classification: angst; Syd/Vaughn  
  
A/N: Have yourself an angsty little Christmas... Yeah. Well, what the heck else did you expect from me? At least no one suffers from extreme stupidity (as can happen on the show), and no one dies. So have a little 'shipper Christmas present, and please do enjoy. Merry Christmas, everyone!  
  
********************************************************************  
  
Sydney heard the clack of approaching footsteps. Tucking her hair behind her ear and   
taking a deep breath, she turned around to face Vaughn.  
  
Or "Michael", as she'd so foreignly called him at the bar. It's strange, she thought,   
to know someone for so long and still call them by their last name.  
  
She put on her best smile as he came closer. "Hey," she said softly.  
  
"Hi, Syd," he replied, smiling slightly.  
  
She hated how he looked so worried most of the time. Like he had the weight of the   
world on his shoulders. Maybe sometimes he did, but it was mostly because of her.   
Sydney wanted him to be happier, but she only made him worry.  
  
Sighing, she leaned back on a rather unreliable-looking table.  
  
"Did you hear Kendall's letting my mom outside twice a week now?" she asked. She   
didn't know why she'd brought that up; her mother was probably still a very sore   
subject for him. Vaughn's father had long been dead, and his murderer got fresh   
air. Somehow the two didn't make sense put together.  
  
"Oh, yeah. That must be a relief for her," he said, mustering up a half smile.  
  
"I guess so," Sydney replied rather lamely. This was going nowhere.  
  
"So, do you have any plans for Christmas?" he asked.  
  
"Not really. Probably just dinner with Will and Francie or something."  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Unless Dad actually makes it, too, but who knows?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You?"  
  
"Oh, probably just dinner with my mom. She still gets really lonely this time of year."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Not your fault."  
  
She smiled at him sadly, still feeling like somehow it was.  
  
"So, Alice won't be...?" she trailed off as Vaughn looked at the floor and shook his   
head.  
  
"No," he answered quietly. "We, uh... I broke up with her. I hated to,   
under the circumstances, but she just knew something was wrong. That   
I was fooling myself. I owed it to her to be honest with her, or at least as   
honest as I could be."  
  
Sydney shrugged, trying desperately to be nonchalant. "Yeah, I guess so."  
  
"I owe it to you to be honest, too, Syd. This year has just been... insane. And - "  
  
Sydney opened her mouth to stop him.  
  
He held up a hand. "No, Sydney, let me finish."  
  
She relented.  
  
"I know, especially lately, things have happened fast and constantly, and there   
really hasn't been any time to discuss things about... us."  
  
Sydney squeezed her eyes shut and sucked in a breath. He'd said it. "Us", like it   
could be true.  
  
Vaughn looked at her as she opened her eyes and sighed. She knew he wasn't   
finished and just remained silent.  
  
He pulled a long, flat, wrapped box out of his jacket pocket, and handed it to her.   
"Merry Christmas," he said, smiling.  
  
"Vaughn, you didn't have to..."  
  
"But I did. Please, just open it."  
  
Why did she find it impossible to resist those green eyes?  
  
Sydney slipped the ribbon from the box and tore open the paper. She took the lid off   
and lifted two thin slips of paper from the box. She smiled instantly in recognition.  
  
"Hockey tickets?"  
  
"They're more like a promise," he said. "I... well, I just wanted you to know for sure,   
and if you don't feel..."  
  
"I do. I really do." She swallowed hard. "It's just that, if I say what I want to say,   
I'm afraid it'll make things that much harder."  
  
Vaughn looked down at the floor. "I know."  
  
She closed the small distance between them and wrapped her arms around him.  
  
He reciprocated and they held each other. For how long, neither of them knew. They   
clung to each other knowing they both felt something they might never be able to   
truly have.  
  
It took all the restraint she had, but Sydney pulled back and only kissed him on the   
cheek.  
  
"Merry Christmas, Vaughn," she said, smiling. "I know this is hard, it's going to be   
hard. But thank you for these. I haven't had a weight lifted from my shoulders in a   
long time, and you did that for me."  
  
"You did the same for me."  
  
Sydney sighed, looking into those incredible eyes of his. How did she get so lucky   
and unlucky all at the same time?  
  
"I have to go," she whispered, trying not to cry.  
  
He nodded as she trailed a hand down his cheek.  
  
Without warning, she briefly kissed his lips, turned, and walked away.  
  
This would be one of the best and worst Christmases for them both. They'd come   
so very far from Vaughn's gift of a picture frame a year ago, to this promise that   
one day, somehow, they could be together. Neither of them knew if it would ever   
be a reality, but as long as they were fighting for freedom, fighting for each other,   
they held the belief that it would.  
  
FIN 


End file.
